Dramas that can captivate an audience until the last episode don’t need gimmicks like a tacky dance, vulgar language or song. A new idea and good writers are the only ingredients for success, as with the series Wesh wi-Dahr.
The ten-episode series, which was screened recently on the Shahid platform, was watched by thousands in Arab countries.
Directed by Maryam Abu Ouf, the series used real locations and streets in Cairo and Tanta, which lent the production an authentic Egyptian atmosphere.
Gamal Farhat (Eyad Nassar) has dreamed of becoming a doctor, but he did not finish his education. He joins a pharmaceutical company as an ordinary worker. He uses his time to read up the leaflets that accompany the medicines. Suddenly he receives a large amount of money by chance and he decides to change his life.
In one of the opening scenes of the first episode, Farahat comes home to his wife holding a mousetrap with a mouse in it. She tells him to take the trap and release the mouse far from the house so that it will not come back. After thinking of his own life, Farahat decides to release himself from a life that doesn’t work for him anymore. He leaves his wife and the city and to start anew in Tanta, but with a new identity, Doctor Galal Farahat, who tends the poor.
In a parallel narrative, we learn about Farahat’s background, about Doha (Reham Abdel Ghafour), a young poor woman who was forced to work as a dancer in wedding parties in order to help her family financially. She later becomes a nurse at Farahat’s clinic and says nothing about her past as a dancer.
What can you expect from a fake doctor and a fake nurse? A love story, of course. They inevitably fall for each other without knowing the real identity of the other. But, will they continue their love after the truth is revealed?
The script is smartly written by Ahmed Badawi and Shadi Abdullah. The characters and their motives are well written. They are spontaneous and different regarding the way of thinking and their background and this diversity made the series more enjoyable.
Director Maryam Abu Auf takes care of every tiny detail to produce realistic images of Egyptian streets.
Also, the costumes by designer Reem Al-Adl are suit able to the atmosphere of the series, as well as the characters and their development.